Resetting Myanmar Policy

Myanmar’s 2015 election,
once heralded as a new political dawn following a half-century of brutal
military rule, has not ushered in the golden age of civilian rule that many had
anticipated. Instead the Tatmadaw, as Myanmar’s military is known, has
maintained its economic and political power and escalated its campaigns of
violence against the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities with total impunity,
all while stalling peace and broader economic reform. This has left the international
community with a dilemma: how to advance accountability for human rights abuses
while remaining politically engaged and promoting responsible economic
development.

On September 16th 2019, the United Nations-authorized
Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (FFM) released its
final report documenting the Tatmadaw’s systematic human rights abuses
stretching back to 2011. Their findings build on its August
2019 report on Myanmar military economic enterprises which exposes the vast
network of economic interests that underpin the military’s power. This report
confirms how the Tatmadaw’s economic power contributes to its human rights
abuses, including against the Rohingya, which it concluded amount to “crimes
against humanity of inhumane acts and persecution” and warns that the Rohingya
people remain “at serious risk of genocide”.

The UN-authorized report found that international
governments and businesses must isolate the Tatmadaw economically in order to
promote accountability, reduce the military’s economic base, and create
conditions to incentivize the military to transition out of its dominant roles
in Myanmar’s politics and economy. The
FFM also found that international actors engaging in any type of economic
relationship with military-linked companies in Myanmar may be complicit in the
Tatmadaw’s egregious abuses

Our latest briefing shows that targeted economic
sanctions against senior members of Myanmar’s military and military-owned
companies are crucial to combat the dominance of the military and undermine
their ability to perpetrate campaigns of violence against the people of Myanmar.
We provide specific recommendations on how the international community can
limit the military’s power and respond to common arguments against the use of
sanctions to further accountability for human rights abuses in Myanmar.

Key Findings

The Tatmadaw’s economic interests, including the
private interests of senior leaders, are key to maintaining the military’s
privileged position and allowing it to act with violent impunity against ethnic
minorities

These military economic interests include two
conglomerates directly controlled by the Tatmadaw, Myanma Economic Holdings
Ltd. (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), as well as over 130
subsidiaries and affiliates

Over 60 foreign companies have direct commercial
ties to these military companies, including 14 companies from 7 different
countries that provide arms and military equipment that the Tatmadaw
subsequently used to commit gross human rights violations

Companies engaging in economic relationships with
military companies, especially those engaged in natural resource extraction,
may be complicit in the Tatmadaw’s abuses

Recommendations

In order to reduce the Tatmadaw’s power and impunity and
incentivize further democratic reforms, the international community should take
the following steps:

Governments should impose financial sanctions
and asset freezes against the Tatmadaw’s conglomerates and all of their
subsidiaries and affiliates

Governments should impose targeted financial and
travel sanctions on all individuals identified by credible bodies as
perpetrators of serious human rights abuses in Myanmar

Businesses should avoid entering into commercial
relationships with military and military-affiliated companies and terminate
existing relationships